A question writ large in the sun drenched fields: “Why the hell defend “laissez faire”?

We ask because 6 academics organised by PAS are trying to minimise Dr Sam Hardy’s conclusions and now say “unreported finds are not damage, but at worst a zero-gain“ which is clearly untrue. Now Raimund Karl of Bangor Uni is saying Sam’s figure of 27,000 detectorists “must be discarded” (even though one Facebook detecting page alone has 23,000 Members!)

Surely if academics are telling us “laissez faire” isn’t really harmful, we British have a problem. We’re blessed with thousands of years of buried history yet uniquely we have NO laws stopping people helping themselves to 99.9% of it and saying nothing. This Summer has shown just how much that matters.